There are a lot of interesting things about Spain and its history in this book. It does at times seem to dwell a bit more on the obscene than I would have liked but it is probably quite accurate in its descriptions.I visited Spain (mostly Barcelona) years ago and have often wanted to go back. That desire has been enhanced by this book.

Interesting. Well written. It is a bit tough going at times, you need a strong interest and understanding in Spanish politics and of course Spanish history with a good head for names. As somebody with blood from Galicia and ties in the south that part I found easy. Ch.3 is a little long but Ch.4 brings it back with how the bikini saved Spain! It goes off the boil from here, less ghosts, more a personal interest into Spanish society and how it is formed. I started to skim read some. The comparison of the main state protagonists is interesting. The book looks at Spain's present through its past and wonders about the future. As I am reading this 10 years down the line I wonder what the URL referenced at the end will feature. In Gallego style...Bueno...

Part of my MA dissertation concerns Basque and Catalan nationalism, so I only read this to refresh myself with an overall feel for the country as a whole before delving into the regional histories. What I found was good: even those two nationalist movements got a chapter each to themselves, both of which were nicely informative (if a bit superficial). We even got a chapter on Galicia too, so hats off to Giles for that.As for the rest of the book: it's a bit quirky, for example one chapter focuses on the vestiges of Francoism, another on Flamenco, another on Benidorm and the tourist industry, another on the sex trade... I can see how this flitting around can be quite endearing, but in the end you might be stuck with whole chapters on very niche subject matter that may not interest you at all. Case in point - the chapter toward the end on Spanish film, which seemed to me to be an awful lot like filler.Some chapters, particularly the ones on flamenco and the sex industry, are written like long-form investigative journalism articles. This is a bit of a hit-and-miss style - whereas the flamenco one is extremely insightful and a great introduction to a lot of themes (not just the music/dance form - but also the status of 'gitanos', gypsies, in Spain, and poverty and drug abuse), the chapter about his visit to the brothel was a bit strange in its superficiality. There was no engagement with the sex workers themselves, and what followed was a bland description of a semi-legal business model.So in all, this book was just OK. I took a few tidbits away, and what more can you really want. But as another reviewer on here observed, it all too often seems like Tremlett has just recycled articles from his time as a Madrid correspondent. Three thumbs up.

I admittedly haven't finished this book. When I first started it, I was very impressed with the author's understanding of Spanish history (in particular, the continuing trauma of the Spanish Civil War). I enthusiastically read the book up until about Chapter 6, when I became aware of the fact that the author's observations were dissolving into gross generalizations and blatant hyperbole -- which isn't to say that there isn't truth there. But the blanket characterizations of "the Spanish people" began to chafe me as a reader and student/professor of Spanish literature and culture, because if there is only one thing you learn when studying Spain, it is that the country is incredibly diverse and that generalizations never get you very far when attempting to understand "La(s) España(s)"Unfortunate, it was, that the author failed to convince me, because a lot of the time, he does have very insightful things to say about Spain and its people. I guess journalism (i.e. sensationalism) got the best of him.

I've lived in Spain for 5 years now. I found this book highly enjoyable, mainly because Tremlett is very well informed about the country -- this is by no means an outsider's take on Spain, but rather a person who is obviously well immersed in the language and culture of Spain. I found myself marveling at his observations about the idiosyncrasies of Spanish culture, mainly because I've had those same observations over the years. But what makes the book great is his ability to weave a lot of historical and political information into his personal travels. As the Madrid correspondent for the Guardian newspaper, Tremlett has reported on the nation's politics among other things and has talked to many people. I found the book very informative, even as someone who has lived in Madrid for 5 years and follows the news. It's definitely a great read if you're planning on going to Spain or even if you're an ex-pat and want to know more about the country you live in.